Bishop Alphonsius Cullinan
Hello to you all. I want you to know that I pray for you all every day. I thank The Munster Express for this chance to write a few words to you on the great event that is Christmas Day when Jesus the Saviour is born in Bethlehem.
The people that walked in darkness has seen a great light. Those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness on them a light has shone.
The presence of Jesus brings light. Jesus is God. There he is in the manger. He is why we celebrate Christmas. Can you imagine having a birthday party but without the birthday boy? On this blessed day if you have a good imagination you can picture the scene: it’s dark, a star shines bright – see the stable and look inside – and see a young mother, her husband and the little infant – Christmas Day is his feast day – the feast of Christ who looks at us, smiles at us. Look at the face of Jesus, a face which melts our troubled hearts. Where ever you are now – at home, or elsewhere, maybe worrying, sad, or lonely, depressed, maybe happy and doing well… remember that he has come to this earth for you. His birth is a proof of God’s love.
He is born to live among us human beings with all our ups and downs. A baby is all tenderness. Jesus is tenderness itself. In a world of such a lack of tenderness Jesus is God the Son, the Prince of Peace. He looks at you and at me with love. How do we look at him? How do we respond? Do I allow myself to be taken up by God to be embraced by God, or do I prevent myself from getting close. Do I stand back? Maybe what is important is not so much to seek God as to allow God to seek us, to find us and to caress us with tenderness. As pope Francis says: The question put to us simply by the Infants presence is Do I allow God to love me?
Do I do you allow God to love you?
To let go of barriers, fears, to see that we are in need, each one of us. you and me. And in looking at Jesus there in the manger doesn’t that urge us to see him in others? Do we have the courage to welcome with tenderness the difficulties of and problems of those who are near to us, or do we prefer impersonal solutions.
How much the world needs tenderness today. But the patience of God the closeness of God and the tenderness of God
T
he Child Jesus will offer us something extraordinary. Because Jesus is fully human like you and me and also fully God, fully divine. And because he is human he can understand you and me and feel and know our human condition but because he is God he can do things no human power can do: He gives:
Meaning in life, a taste for the simple things, the joy of service, the sense of true freedom, inner peace, and a willingness to be committed, to give our lives to something great and lasting.
Only he can soften our hearts often hardened by bitterness and delusions, he tells us that WE CANNOT GO IT ALONE. But He wants to be with us, wants to be with you – and me.
He will say later as a grown man (as recorded in John’s Gospel) – “apart from me you can do nothing.” Let’s go to Bethlehem just like the shepherds and see the face of the little one who calls to us and asks us to trust him.In union with catholic Christians all around the world, I wish you and all your family and friends a blessed Christmas.
Phonsie Cullinan is the Bishop of Waterford & Lismore